CREATION MOMENTS: 4.29.17

EVOLUTIONISTS ARE SO INCONSISTENT

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
We do not believe that God created the Universe because of evidence. We believe it, because that is what God said in His Word. Having presupposed the obvious truth of God’s Word, we notice that any evidence observed and collected is consistent with what we know of the truth of God’s Word.

For this reason, we do not attempt to provide evidence to prove to you that God exists. God exists, whether or not people are convinced by the evidence. But there are many good reasons why we should use evidence, as we explain the truth of God’s creation to people.

We often use evidence to show how inconsistent evolutionists are. For example, those involved in the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) know that a signal can only be considered to be of intelligent origin if it contains a code. The existence of a code would be considered strong evidence for intelligent origin. Mere regular repetition, such as that discovered in 1967 in pulsars, does not constitute intelligence.

Yet, evolutionists examining DNA see clearly that the molecules contain a code. Yet many evolutionists have compared this to the regularity of repetition seen in inorganic crystals. The standards applied in the vain search for extra-terrestrial intelligence are not applied to molecular biology. This is a clear inconsistency, and illustrates that evolutionists have a prior, and incorrect, presupposition. That is why we are comfortable in adopting the positive presuppositions that God exists and the Bible is true. The evidence is consistent with our presupposition, but not with that of the evolutionists.

Thank You, Lord, that we can trust as true everything that You have told us in Your Word.

 

EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION CAN BE ILLOGICAL

Colossians 2:3

In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
In a previous Creation Moments broadcast, we looked at why chimps and humans have similar features, and showed that it is because they have a common designer. Evolutionists use the similarities between organisms to suggest proof of descent from common ancestors. This is illogical. Let me explain a little logic. Suppose I use this syllogism:

If it is raining, the streets are wet. It is raining. Therefore, the streets are wet.

We would know that this is logical. But suppose I said it differently:

If it is raining, the streets are wet. The streets are wet. Therefore, it is raining.

We know that this is illogical, because there are other reasons why the streets may be wet.

Evolutionists claim:

If evolution were true, we would expect animals to have similarities. Animals have similarities. Therefore, evolution is true.

This set of statements is equally illogical as saying that it is raining, because the streets are wet. It is actually a well-known logical fallacy, known as the Affirmation of the Consequent. Yet many high school biology textbooks rely on this illogical set of statements as their so-called evidence for evolution. The better explanation is the true explanation – that animals have similarities because they have a common designer – God.

Everything You have told us, Father, makes sense and is true. Thank You for placing us in this beautiful world that You have made.

 

 

WHY ARE CHIMPS AND HUMANS SIMILAR?

Mark 7:37

And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
Why are chimps so similar to humans? They have five fingers on each hand, like we do, and five toes on each foot. They have facial expressions a bit like us.

Chimps are probably the animals most similar in appearance to us. However, there are many other similarities among animals. Many animals, for example, have five sets of bones in their hands, front paws, flippers, or, in the case of bats, their wings. Why do these similarities occur? Is it because we have evolved from a common ancestor, as the evolutionists suggest?

Suppose you see two cars in a parking lot, and they were both made by the same auto manufacturer. Even though they are different models, they may have a lot of things in common. They will have the same logo or badge. They may have similar shaped bodies or hoods. And these similarities extend to other vehicles from other manufacturers, as most cars will have four wheels and a steering wheel. Have they all evolved from a common ancestor? Of course not. They have been made by the same design team, or by similar designers, for similar conditions. We do not assume that they have evolved.

In the same way, chimps and humans have not evolved from a common ancestor. They were created by a common designer, as were all the other animals. If chimps look more similar to us than other animals, it is because the purpose for which they were designed by God requires them to have such similarities.

We love the way You have created all the other creatures of the world, Father. Thank You for making chimpanzees, as a reminder that all we have comes from You, and was created for Your Glory.

 

 GOD VS. BIG BANG

Colossians 1:16

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they bethrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Some Christian apologists believe that all Christians should accept the Big Bang theory. They say that the Big Bang theory has been proved, and that at least it tells us that the universe had a definite beginning. They use this as part of a logical syllogism, which they claim proves God. It runs as follows:

Everything that has a beginning has a cause.

The universe had a beginning.

Therefore the universe has a cause.

Such apologists proceed to explain that this cause must, therefore, be God.

The problem is that the Big Bang theory is now beginning to look weak, even among unbelieving cosmologists. The concept that the universe came into existence, from nothing, about 14.7 billion years ago, does not explain so many observed phenomena – such as the fact that radiation is of even amount across the universe, over distances far greater than 14.7 billion light years, which is impossible to explain on the Big Bang timescale. Additionally, many Christians do not realize that the Big Bang theory has an eschatology of the End Times, as it suggests that one day all molecules will cease to move in a Big Freeze, that will bring everything to an end. This is a somewhat bleak future to look forward to, but some Christian apologists have been prepared to accept the Big Bang’s creation myth, but reject its eschatology.

A more logical position is not to accept the Big Bang theory at all, but to accept that what God told us in His Word is the truth.

Thank You, Father, for what You have told us about how You made this world. And thank You that, when You end it, You will do it in Your time, and for Your glory. Amen.

 

 

 THE PEOPLE WHO DELIBERATELY FORGET

2 Peter 3:3-6

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
Uniformitarianism is a big word to describe the prevailing scientific philosophy of the world. It is the idea that everything in nature has proceeded in a regular and smooth fashion since the start of the Universe.

Of course, modern scientists do not accept a smooth uniformitarianism. They accept for example, a number of catastrophes and major events shaping the world we live in. But these are still considered to be part of the overall onward progress of unguided evolutionary change.

The apostle Peter refers to such people as “scoffers”. This is because they refuse to believe that God created, and prefer to believe in gradual uniform progress – as we read in 2 Peter 3:4, they say that “all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation”. Peter goes on to show that these scoffers are deliberately overlooking two facts. Peter says their actions are deliberate. It is not a mistake that they overlook these things. It is because, as another apostle, Paul, says “although they knew God, they did not honor him as God.” So Peter tells us that the scoffers deliberately forget that God made the world and that God flooded the world. Once we take these two events, recorded in Genesis, into account, the rest of our understanding of how God has shaped the world becomes so much clearer.

Father in heaven, thank You that You have explained to us everything we need to know about how You made this world, and You have given us this explanation in your Bible. Amen.

 

CREATION MOMENTS: 4.22.17

THE FAITHFUL WITNESS IN THE SKY

Genesis 1:16

“The lesser light to rule the night...”
The Moon has always fascinated me, as it hangs there in the sky, the only extra-terrestrial world where some of its surface features can be seen with the naked eye.

The Bible tells us that the Moon is a faithful witness (Psalm 89:37). In what way could it be a faithful witness? Australian Aborigines have a story about the Moon dying in a fight with a character of evil. Then the Moon rose from the dead on the third day. New Moon, when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun, and hence in darkness, lasts for 3 days.

In Psalm 89:35-37, David prophesies: “Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” The seed of David must refer to Jesus. Jesus’ death and resurrection took place at Passover, which always happens around the time of the New Moon.

I find it endlessly fascinating that the creation itself exists to point us to Christ. Paul says in Romans 1:20 “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” Little wonder that he goes on to warn us that we are all “without excuse”.

Some cultures have tried to worship the Moon – New Agers still want us to do something similar. But like every other object of creation, the Moon exists to point us to Christ, through whom alone there is salvation.

Thank You, Lord, for making the greater and lesser lights. They are part of Your universe, and are there to show forth Your Glory. Amen.

 

A WHALE OF A TALE

Genesis 1:21

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
A whale got stuck in the middle of London, England, in 2006. The bottle-nosed whale swam up the River Thames. Attempts to rescue the confused animal led to its death, and an unusual outpouring of popular grief in the UK’s capital.

What do British whales and swans have in common? Under English law, all whales and swans belong to the Queen. Whales within 3 miles of the English coast were taken under Royal Patronage by a statute in 1324, under which they were classified as “fishes royal”. Edward II declared “The King shall have… whales and sturgeons taken in the sea, or elsewhere within the realm. Today, whales are classed as mammals, rather than fish, yet the other thing that whales, sturgeons and swans have in common is that they were all created on the 5th day of creation, whereas land animals were created on the 6th.

This reminds us that evolutionary theory cannot be “fitted in” to the true creation account in Genesis. Evolutionists suppose that whales evolved from land animals, whereas the Bible tells us that whales came before land animals. Both explanations cannot be true. The evolutionary order is refuted by the truth of God’s Word.

Not only the whales and the swans, but all things in heaven and on Earth belong to You, Lord. Thank You that you made everything well. Amen.

 

 WHEN THE ICE CAME

Job 38:29-30

Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
Was there a time, when large parts of the Earth’s surface were so cold, that they were covered with ice sheets? Many U-shaped valleys throughout northern Europe and North America show markings somewhat similar to the impressions left today by moving glaciers – “rivers” of ice.

The worldwide Flood was not a gentle event. We assume that it was accompanied by volcanic eruptions, which would have left aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Deflecting the sun’s rays, these aerosols would have made the atmospheric temperature less than it is today, whereas the ocean temperatures immediately after the Flood would have been slightly warmer than today. Greater evaporation would occur into colder air, resulting in much more precipitation than we have today – much of it as snow.

Secular scientists suggest that this Ice Age would have lasted about 100,000 years, but meteorologist Michael Oard has shown that such a great length of time was not necessary for glacial effects, and could be explained by just 200 years of post-Flood history.

Perhaps the ice mentioned in the book of Job could be a reference to such an Ice Age, when we read in Job 28:30 “the waters become hard like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen”. A biblical model makes sense of the observed scientific facts.

This is Your world, Lord, and I thank You that You are always in charge. Amen.

 

HUMAN RIGHTS FOR CHIMPANZEES

Ecclesiastes 3:21

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
I loved the zoo, when I was a boy. How we used to laugh at the antics of the chimpanzees at their “tea parties”! We were amused that they wore clothes, as they performed activities that looked vaguely human. Well, we kept on laughing, until we decided that it was an improper anthropomorphism, and the events were banned.

The media have recently reported talk of reclassifying chimpanzees, because the researchers claim (wrongly) that chimps are very closely related to humans – even more closely than they are related to other great apes, such as gorillas and orangutans.
The physical similarities between humans and apes are supposed to be evidence for a common ancestor. These similarities, however, are exactly what we would expect, if humans and chimps had a common designer, rather than a common ancestor. That designer is, of course, God.

Classifying chimps as humans could presumably lead to chimps being granted protection under human rights legislation. How would such legislation affect the actions of law enforcement officers, in the event of a chimp escaping from a zoo? In one such incident, a chimp was assumed to be potentially dangerous, and was shot dead.

The writer of Ecclesiastes draws a distinction between animals and humans, observing that “the spirit of the sons of men... goes upward, and the spirit of the animal... goes down to the earth”. Evolutionary philosophy is leading to absurd conclusions, and it is only a biblical worldview, from which flows common sense.

What is man that You are mindful of him, Lord? Thank You that You cared for me, and sent Your Son to die for me. Amen.

 

HOW DID DINOSAURS DIE OUT?

Job 40:19

[Behemoth] is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
A report in a British newspaper about 10 years ago suggested that dinosaurs may have died out, because they picked up diseases from insect bites, with which they were not able to cope. Previously, it had been an article of faith for over 20 years that dinosaurs had died out as a result of a massive asteroid strike on the Earth, supposedly at Chicxulub, Mexico. The BBC’s popular CGI-based documentary series, “Walking with Dinosaurs”, showed this catastrophic event, which they suggest kicked up clouds of dust into the atmosphere, thus changing the climate and making it unwelcome to dinosaurs. The problem with the Mexican asteroid is that it offers no explanation as to why dinosaurs should have gone extinct, but not more environmentally sensitive groups, such as butterflies or frogs.

The insect bite theory appears to be no better. Why would disease-carrying insects have preferred the taste of dinosaur blood to that of mammal blood? Changes in theories of dinosaur extinction are nothing new. When I was in elementary school, my teacher confidently taught us that dinosaurs had died out, because their egg shells became too thin to survive.

When we accept Genesis as literal truth, the great dinosaur mystery disappears. Most dinosaurs, in common with all other land animals not on the Ark, were killed in the Flood. Some of these were rapidly fossilized. After the Flood, many remaining large reptilian creatures began to die out. That some remained for a considerable period is confirmed by the many legends that exist about dinosaurs (or dragons). The fact that some scientists have moved away from the scientifically orthodox asteroid impact theory merely underlines that we should have simply accepted the Bible all along.

Thank You, Lord, that in Jesus are hidden all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. Amen.

 

 

CREATION MOMENTS: 4.15.17

THE HOUSE OF CARDS RELIGION

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
One well-known pastor has recently stated that, if we ask our young people to believe something, because “The Bible tells me so”, then we are creating a house of cards religion. What happens, he asks, when they go to college and find that the walls of Jericho did not really come down, or that what they have been told about the world being created in 6 days is at odds with the fact that the universe is 14.7 billion years old?

There are many teachers today, who state that they believe every word of Genesis as fact, but that it doesn’t mean what you think it means, and you can’t understand it without knowing what these clever new teachers have written about it.

Such utterances betray a lack of trust in the Bible – a feeling that we cannot trust the truth of the Bible on its own merits, without finding external evidence to prop it up.

The truth is that evidence does not speak for itself. Evidence is always interpreted, according to a person’s worldview. What we should be saying to our young people – and our older people – is that you can trust the Bible, and give them the tools to handle it correctly. Let’s have less fear of what the world says, and more confidence that, when God spoke through Scripture, He did not make a mistake, so we should submit to what He has said through His Word.

Thank You that Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Amen.

 

CAIN’S SACRIFICE

Genesis 4:4b-5a

And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.
Why did God accept Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s? As a child, I just couldn’t get it. They both brought offerings to God. Why did God show such favoritism?

I was told by teachers at elementary school that we should do the best we could for God. God deserves the best. But didn’t Cain bring to God the very best of his crops?


When I became a Christian, somebody told me that God must have seen that Cain had a mean spirit, while Abel trusted God. One day, it dawned on me that the answer must be more obvious than that, and must be clearly visible in the text, in order for us to learn something from it.

Cain’s parents had made themselves clothes of fig leaves, in order to cover their own guilt. But this did not make them right with God. Instead, God gave them clothes of skin, which must have involved the death of an animal.

Abel’s offering involved the death of an animal. Blood was shed, to cover sin. Cain’s offering was not a sacrifice. He offered the best that he could do. But the Bible tells us that the best we can offer is as a “polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6).

Cain didn’t get it, either. Arrogantly, he assumed that God should have been pleased with the best he could offer. But without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin.

Forgive me, Lord, for my times of arrogance, when I have thought I could do things my way. Please help me to seek Your way, instead of mine. Amen.

 

A DELAY IN ORIGINS

Proverbs 9:10a

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Why did Charles Darwin take so long to publish his Origin of Species? His Beagle journal was published in 1839, but Origins was published 20 years later, in 1859. And why was Darwin in such a hurry in 1858 to get his book finished and published? A book by Roy Davies, entitled The Darwin Conspiracy, suggests that Darwin was guilty of plagiarism.

On June 18th 1858, Darwin received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, who was collecting specimens in what is now Indonesia. Wallace’s letter outlined his idea on the transmutation of species. It turned out to be the same as Darwin’s idea, which he had outlined in a letter to his friend Joseph Hooker on June 10th. But Davies claims that Wallace’s other letters to his family were received on June 3rd – seven days BEFORE Darwin wrote Hooker.

If Davies is correct, Darwin plagiarized Wallace’s theory. Although he was notionally a member of the Church of England, Darwin was, in fact, an atheist, like his father. Wallace was a spiritualist, who claimed he had received his theory in a trance, while suffering from delirium. Could it be that the Origin of Species was a demonically inspired concept, delivered through the medium of Wallace, then stolen by the atheist Darwin? Whether or not this version of events is correct, evolution has served anti-Christian forces well, in persuading them that the Bible is not to be believed. We, on the other hand, trust God’s Word over the words of men – especially those influenced by darker forces.

As the heavens are higher than the earth, so Your ways are higher than mine, Lord. Amen.

 

 WORDS OF BIAS

Genesis 1:21a

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind.
We are used to evolutionists getting certain aspects of science wrong. But sometimes we are not aware of how words and phrases of bias can be slipped through unnoticed.

In an article in Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper, a science journalist began as follows: “By duplicating itself two and a half million years ago, the gene could have given early human brains the power of speech and invention, leaving cousins such as chimpanzees behind.”

Without any justification, this supposed science article has identified chimps as “cousins” of human beings. This creates a circular argument, because evolution is being assumed as a fact, before any supposed evidence for it is offered.

London’s Natural History Museum contains a display, which is meant to prove the evolution of the whale from land dwelling creatures called mesonychids. Three fossil skulls show the gradual change in appearance of successive animals’ heads. Yet they are not arranged in order of age – even by evolutionary, long-age standards. The second fossil is older than the first, according to dating methods, so the arrangement of the display is an illusion. The fossils have been arranged according to their alleged evolution, so the truth of evolution is assumed. The resulting display is then offered as evidence for evolution. Once again, this is circular reasoning. God’s word tells us that whales, created on day 5, could not have evolved from land animals, created a day later.

Thank You for the truth of Your Word, Lord. It is always true, and I pray that I will follow it always. Amen.

Collins, N. (2012), Gene which sparked human brain leap identified, (Daily Telegraph), < http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/9244310/Gene-which-sparked-human-brain-leap-identified.html >, quoted in Taylor, P.F. (2015), Where Birds Eat Horses, (Toutle, WA: J6D Publications), p. 77.

 

WHEN IS A DAY A DAY?

Exodus 20:11a

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day:
When is a day a day? And when is a day not a day? Are the days really 24 hours long? Let’s look at that well-known Bible passage that tells you about the first day, second day and so on. I am referring to Numbers 7.

What do you mean, you haven’t read Numbers 7 recently? It’s that exciting passage, when all the tribes of Israel brought their gifts for the Tabernacle to Moses. The tribe of Judah brought their gift on the first day. On the second day, it was the turn of Issachar. Zebulon came on the third day, and so on. Twelve tribes, twelve days. But a day with the Lord is like a thousand years! So poor old Moses must have sat there waiting for these tribes for 12,000 years!

I think you understand my point. The 12 days of Numbers 7 are obviously 12 literal 24-hour days, because the use of ordinal numbers only makes sense, if that were so. Yet the grammar and syntax of Numbers 7 is the same as that of Genesis 1. If you want to interpret Genesis 1 figuratively, then you ought to interpret Numbers 7 figuratively, and Moses had to wait thousands of years. But if you want to read Numbers 7 literally, as it is written, then you should read Genesis 1 the same. The days of Genesis 1 are literal, 24-hour days.

Thank You that You made this world exactly as You said You made it, because Your Word is trustworthy and true. Amen.

 

 

CREATION MOMENTS: 4.8.17

JESUS’ AGE FOR THE EARTH

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Did Jesus get things scientifically wrong? After all, He was a man of His times. Jesus’ followers could never have comprehended the sophistication of evolutionary biology and cosmology, would they?

Yet, in so many places, we read about Jesus stating things that went against the very grain of the society He lived in. This is because He told the truth.

We should take note, then, when Jesus hints about the age of the Earth. In Matthew 19:4, Jesus, referring to marriage, says: “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?” Note that Jesus, insulting the most well-read people of the time, is stating that human beings were there “from the beginning”, using the word αρχη, just as is used in John 1:1, referring to the creation of the universe.

If humans were the product of millions of years of evolution, then they were not around απ αρχης – from the beginning. If Jesus got this wrong, how can we trust anything else that He says? Jesus did not get this wrong, because He is the person of the Trinity, through whom this creation was achieved. The Biblical timescale, with Adam and Eve created during the first week of this universe’s existence, is Jesus’ timescale. This is a record of Jesus’ Age for the Earth.

Lord, all things were made through Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and we worship and adore Him. Amen.

 

FOUNTAINS OF THE DEEP

Genesis 7:11

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
It must have made a tremendous noise, when the Earth’s crust cracked into pieces.

Genesis 7 tells us that the main event which began the worldwide Flood was the opening of the Fountains of the Deep. We think that this was probably massive volcanic and seismic activity occurring on a worldwide scale. Magma and superheated water would have emerged from these cracks. The superheated water would have been thrown miles into the atmosphere, at supersonic speed, and would then have returned to the Earth as rain – probably what is meant by the windows of heaven. This would also have caused the world’s largest ever tsunamis, bringing devastation and destruction to the pre-Flood world.

There are many models of how the worldwide Flood could have begun. The one, which I have outlined, is called Catastrophic Plate Tectonics, because it explains the existence of the Earth’s tectonic plates, by means of formation catastrophically – that is by the worldwide Flood. This sophisticated model is able to show how the Earth’s great geological forces, including modern day volcanoes, can be explained within a biblical timetable.

While it is interesting and important to research how the Flood began, we should never forget why the Flood began. God sent the Flood as a judgment because of the wickedness of people’s hearts. The only reason that we can discuss this today is because our ancestors escaped the Flood. That is because our ancestors were Noah and his family, saved, we read in Genesis 6:8, by the grace of God. We also can be saved from the judgment to come, when we repent of our sins, and put our trust in Jesus, our Ark of salvation.

Thank you, Lord, for saving me from the judgment to come, by your grace and mercy. Amen.

 

VOLCANOES

Psalm 104:31-32

The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works. He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
Mount St Helens is an active volcano. It, and the other volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains, could erupt at any time.

Geologists point to the subduction of the Juan de Fuca Plate under the North American plate as the cause of the magma, which breaks through at the volcanoes, causing them to erupt and to grow. This subduction is clearly happening very slowly today. Similar volcanoes occur at other subduction points around the world, and are especially notable in other areas in the so called Ring of Fire around the Pacific Ocean.

If this subduction had always been slow, over millions of years, as evolutionary geologists suppose, then it is difficult to understand how these volcanoes could continue to be active. However, it is our assumption that these plates were formed by the devastating events that began the worldwide Flood. Therefore, the original subduction occurred at a runaway rate. Indeed, solid remains of an early ocean plate can be detected in the Earth’s mantle. If the Earth were millions of years old, then this plate should have melted and mixed in with the semi-molten mantle by now. But the existence of this plate – probably the remains of the subducted portion of the Juan de Fuca Plate – is consistent with what the Bible says about the Flood and its timescale.

Because volcanoes were formed by the Flood, they speak to us of the wrath and of the mercy of God. In this sense, volcanoes like Mount St Helens are really large Gospel tracts.

I stand in awe at the manifestation of Your Power, Lord. Thank You for doing all things well. Amen.

 

 HOW WOULD YOU KNOW THERE IS LIFE OUT THERE?

Romans 1:19

Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
There are those who are searching for life in outer space. Such groups include SETI – the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. But supposing they received a signal from outer space. How would they know, if it was really an intelligence? In 1967, scientists at Jodrell Bank in England picked up regular pulses of radio signals, and they assumed that the signals must be intelligent in origin. In fact, they were of natural origin, caused by the rotation of dense stellar objects, or pulsars. Scientists realized that mere repetition of a signal does not represent intelligence. So, SETI has a definition which insists that observers look for “the existence of coded information on the signal”.

Has any such signal ever been observed? The answer is yes. But such signals have not been found through the telescope, but, rather, through the microscope. Such signals are found in molecules of DNA. DNA contains information, which is known to be highly sophisticated; so much so, that to explain this point further would require many more broadcasts. Yet some biologists have likened the information in DNA to the regularity found in salt crystals. These salt crystals do indeed have regularity, but this is not information.

There is an inconsistency in those, who insist that simple regularity is not information in one context, yet assume that it gives rise to information in another. For us, the information in DNA is what we expect in a material created by God.

Thank you, Lord, for Your wonderful Word, which gives light to our path every day. Amen.

 

A POEM LOVELY AS A TREE

Psalm 96:12

Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.
The gramophone was switched on, 12-inches of vinyl placed on it, and the needle balanced on the disc, in order for us to hear the music. This was my mother’s favorite record, featuring the deep, gravelly bass voice of Paul Robeson, singing a song called “Trees”.

My mother loved trees, and so do I. They are, of course, plants. But the scale of a tree is usually magnificent. Not every tree is on the scale of the Giant Redwoods in California, but even the trees in your backyard are big objects. Some trees can get to be very old. I remember that the first time I saw the Major Oak in England’s Sherwood Forest, I was, and still am, awestruck by its age of a thousand years. According to legend, it provided shelter for Robin Hood and his Merry Men, and is certainly old enough to have done so.

Robeson’s song begins: “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” The last lines of the song put this thought into perspective. “For poems are made by fools like me. But only God can make a tree”. Believers, like the psalmist in Psalm 96, ascribe glory to God for these wonderful objects – “the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord”. Genesis 1 tells us that God made these beautiful plants to produce seed after their kind. They are part of the glorious world that God has made, and we give thanks to Him for His Creative work in producing things like trees.

Everything in Your world has been made so well, Lord God, and I thank You for it. Amen.

 

 

 

 

CREATION MOMENTS: 4.1.17

AN ALGA THAT FLEXES ITS MUSCLES

Job 10:8a

"Your hands have made me and fashioned me, and intricate unity…"
A strange alga that has muscle like tissue illustrates that there are no simple life forms. Protein muscle fibers, say evolutionists, are a later and more advanced development in living things. Yet, these scientists also claim that alga are among the first of the living things to have evolved.

The Mougeotia alga contains a structure that performs photosynthesis. This structure is shaped like a flat disc. Researchers found that, depending on the brightness and direction of the light, this structure is turned to control the rate at which photosynthesis takes place. Further study indicates that the structure is actually turned by protein fibers that expand and contract just like our muscles to keep everything under control!

Here we have two very different structures working together. The disc like structure that carries out photosynthesis could not function very well at all without the "muscle" fiber. If the muscle fiber were to evolve without the disc like structure to control, the fiber would be useless.

The individual parts of all living things work together like the individual instruments in an orchestra. They're useless without each other. This example shows that individual structures in living things could not have evolved gradually and individually over long periods of time. They were created to work together in close harmony!

Dear Father, only You could have kept track of all the details which were necessary to build the wonderful creation in which we live. Help me to remember Your attention to detail and Your love for me when I am tempted to think that some difficulty is too minor to bring to You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Wagner, C., W. Haupt, and A. Laux. 1972. "Reversible inhibition of chloroplast movement by cytocholasin B in the green alga mougeotia." Science, v. 176. p. 808.

 

A DESERT TRAVELERS FRIEND

Isaiah 41:19-20

"I will plant in the wilderness the cedar and the acacia tree, the myrtle and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the cypress tree and the pine and the box tree together, that they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it."
What two things are most important to someone lost in the desert? Why, a compass and, of course, some water. If you are lost in the desert and find a compass barrel cactus, you have both in this amazing plant.

There are many true stories told about people who were lost in the desert and dying of thirst until they found the compass barrel cactus. Some of them expected to find an actual barrel of water inside the cactus when they cut it open. What they found instead was a couple of quarts of water stored in the inner flesh of the plant. It is enough water to save someone's life, but it has a bitter flavor. Your thirst has to be real before you'll put up with the taste!

Where does all that water come from in the desert? The cactus has long, sharp protective spines. The spines end in a bend toward the ground. They are so designed that they catch the dew and deliver it, drop by drop, to the ground around the plant. There, shallow roots quickly take up the water for storage. The compass barrel cactus also gives directions to the traveler. The cactus produces a light sensitive chemical that makes it grow more rapidly on the side that gets the least sun. The result is that the cactus grows leaning toward the south.

The compass barrel cactus is more than just a compass for those who are lost in the desert, it also bears witness by pointing to a wise Creator who, we learn from the Bible, provides forgiveness of sins, salvation and spiritual direction through Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, this world is a spiritual desert. I thank You that You have not left me to wander alone. I ask that You would show me those who are wandering unguided, that I may show them Your guidance. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
WASPS DO THE BIOLOGICALLY IMPOSSIBLE

Acts 17:29

"Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising."
When it comes to wasps, you can just forget everything you learned about sexual reproduction in Biology 101. There are male and female wasps. But that has very little to do with wasp reproduction.

For starters, male wasps can only reproduce female offspring. After mating, the female wasp stores the male's seed in a sac in her reproductive tract. It will only be used when the female lays her eggs on the pupa of a fly, and then only if she wants daughters. The female can control how many of her offspring will be female and how many will be male. She can squeeze the sac to fertilize an egg when it is laid. That egg will produce a female. If she decides not to fertilize the egg, it will develop into a male.

As scientists have studied this unusual system of reproduction, they have found that the story becomes even stranger. Some females produce only male offspring. Further research shows that this is due to factors inherited through the male line. The mystery is that there is no male line. Males can only produce females. Even worse, for those who believe that wasps evolved instead of being created by God, this system offers so many disadvantages to the wasp that it should never have evolved.

While the wasp is at a disadvantage in this arrangement, God has arranged things so that the wasp can survive. That survival appears to serve another of God's purposes. It challenges those who think that there is no Creator and God of the universe.

I thank You, Lord, that You care for the universe and its creatures. I also thank You that You desire a relationship with us so much that You use what You have made as a witness to Yourself. And I thank You that You cared so much for me that You gave Your life on the cross so that my sins could be forgiven. Amen.
AN ANTARCTIC FOREST

Romans 8:38-39

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
As we learn more about the history of our planet, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the Earth has had many faces over its history. Remains of tropical forests have been found within 400 miles of the North Pole. Dinosaurs once lived in the tropical lushness of Alaska. At one time, you could even walk to Australia from Asia.

It's also been known for some time that the great Antarctic continent was once much warmer than it is today. However, only recently have we learned that the frozen wastelands of Antarctica were forested hills not very long ago. In the 1980s, the remains of a forest were discovered along the Transarctic Mountains. The forest stretched over an area of 1,300 kilometers. When the Antarctic forest was growing, the mountainous area looked like the fjords of Chile and Norway. Scientists have continued looking for evidences of the animals that might have lived in the forest.

How long ago did the forest grow where there is now only ice and snow? Scientists have found wood from the forest. It's not very fossilized. In fact, it still floats and it can be burned. Scientists who typically assign great ages to the Earth say that the evidence now says that the changes that took place in Antarctica happened much more rapidly than they once thought.

Our Earth is dynamic, changing much more rapidly than most ever thought. That is, unless one has believed the catastrophic history of the Earth recorded in the Bible.

Father in heaven, I thank You for reminding us that no matter what happens, You are in charge and looking out for the welfare of Your people. Keep reminding me of this, especially when things seem out of control. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
MATHEMATICAL INFANTS

Romans 12:1

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service."
Does a five-month-old infant know that three is more than two? Impressive new evidence strongly supports the idea that infants have natural mathematical reasoning skills.

Researchers relied on the fact that babies tend to look longer at something new or unexpected than they do at something they have recently seen. Infants were allowed to look at either one or two Mickey Mouse dolls. Then, researchers put a screen in front of the dolls. With the babies watching, they would sometimes place another doll next to the first or second doll behind the screen. Sometimes another, hidden, researcher would hide one of the dolls. Then the screen was removed.

When the screen was removed, the infant might see the same number of dolls as before, one more, or one less. Researchers found that if the same number of dolls that the infant had seen before were still present when the screen was removed, the infant quickly lost interest. However, if there was an additional doll, or one less doll, the infants spent more time looking at them. They could clearly tell that the number had changed. Other research has shown that infants can also tell when the number of beats on a drum is the same as the number of objects they are being shown.

God has built many skills and talents into us. Other research shows that infants also have language and music abilities at a surprisingly young age. That these intellectual skills are natural to us is another evidence against the evolutionary explanation for man.

I thank You, dear heavenly Father, for all the talents and abilities You have given me. Help me to more fully develop and use them in service to You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.